Quote Originally Posted by lil skeeter View Post
i looked at the guide book and found nothing saying 4 inches of measured antler. it did say that any deer with visible polished antler or velvet covered bone excluding button bucks is considered antlered. the excluding button bucks part i think means the velvet bone under the hair. im not sure if that is correct, so if someone knows for sure, please correct me on this.
It may have changed, this was the rule for many years that I knew of. Maybe I was wrong but I'm almost positive that was at least the old rule. Let's put it this way I seen BUNCHES of button bucks guys use to bring to the check station before telecheck with VISIBLE, TOUCHABLE antlers and since they were very short were tagged as a button buck???? Now granted 90% of those i speak of was barely breaking skin on top to. Interesting now there is reason for doubt. We always try to not shoot real small deer at all, that way you don't run the chance of getting a button when you are trying to harvest your doe. We do the face and ear thing. Look hard at a deers' face and nose length if it has a short nose and small face and head and the ears are short, very young deer. Of course body size is obvious but in some cases where deer stay small even as adults this can be confusing. The ear length and short face is a better gauge.